- Mirror Broken – Notification Icon Indicates “dangling sources”, GUI shows Red X
Solution
By default, Windows configures virtual memory so that page files are automatically created on volumes as the Operating System determines is best. This Virtual Memory setting is called “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives”.
When this setting is enabled, page files sometimes are created by the Operating System on volumes that are part of DataKeeper mirrors. When this occurs, DataKeeper is not able to perform operations on the volume that are necessary for full protection. This setting needs to be disabled on all systems that have DataKeeper mirrors.
Perform the following steps:
1. Remove the Page File
- Disable “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives”
This setting can be found in Control Panel “System” dialog. - First, click the Advanced system settings option:
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- From the System Properties dialog, choose the Advanced tab and click the Settings button in the Performance section.
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- Choose the Advanced tab in the Performance Options dialog, and click the Change… button in the Virtual Memory section.
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In the Virtual Memory dialog, uncheck the “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives”. Then configure pagefiles so that any DataKeeper-protected volumes have no page file configured.
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- Cleanup mirror on the volume for both systems
- Launch an Administrator command prompt
- Type “cd extmirrbase” (You will now be placed in the DataKeeper directory or c:\Program Files (x86) \SIOS\DataKeeper)
- From the aforementioned directory type “cd support”
- From within the support directory, execute the following command “cleanupmirror ”
- Run this command on all systems that are participating in DataKeeper mirroring
- Determine which system has the accurate data for Vol E.
- Recreate mirror in DataKeeper UI making the system with the accurate data the source
- Disable “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives”
- Error(s) Detected, Dangling Sources on 2×2
Issue
In a 2×2, Active/Active environment, the Notification Tray Icon may reflect the following error:
“Error(s) Detected! DanglingSources:2”
Also when executing from the SIOS DataKeeper Notification Icon, “Launch Health Check”, it may indicate the follow:
############################
##### Dangling Sources #####
############################
servername;0.0.0.0 (Drive) <= ? => <Unknown>
servername;0.0.0.0 (Drive) <= ? => <Unknown>
—————————————————————————————————-
Solution
To clear the error message from the SIOS DataKeeper Notification Icon, ensure the proper configuration masks/attributes are set for volumes that are shared and using WSFC combined.
To verify the configuration mask status, from an elevated/Administrator command prompt:
- cd %extmirrbase%
- emcmd . getconfiguration (drive letter)… To verify current configuration mask value
To change the configuration mask value:
- emcmd . setconfiguration <drive letter> <configuration mask value>
- For WSFC the value is = 128
- For a Shared Volume/Buddy the value = 256
- For a Share Buddy that is being cluster in WFSC, the value would be 128+256 = 384
Verify the changes have taken effect by executing the emcmd . getconfiguration command again.
The aforementioned allows one to perform a switchover or failover.
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